


It Takes Only a Moment

by Dophne



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Hurt and comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild Angst, Mild Cursing, Mutual Pining, mild freak outs, oblivious characters, short self-loathing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-17 05:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13070214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dophne/pseuds/Dophne
Summary: Steve and Tony have been in love for months and it took one stubborn tug and a giving mind for them to find out that the feelings were mutual.





	1. Steve

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gottalovev](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gottalovev/gifts).



> This was a lot of fun! This is for the Holiday Exchange I hope you enjoy this!

It was eleven pm, Steve noted to himself as he climbed into the elevator to head to his floor from the common room. The team had been watching a movie that they found on TV but Steve got bored and bowed out after the halfway mark. He vaguely wondered what Tony was doing since he disappeared after dinner though knowing Tony he was probably down in his lab. Steve always loved it when Tony gets excited about new ideas. he sees Tony’s eyes light up with excitement and wonder. Most of the time when he goes down to the lab, Steve would go just to watch Tony work but sometimes...sometimes he wondered what it would be like for those hands to be busy on  _ him  _ instead of some machine. Steve shook his head, he has been half in love with Tony Stark for six months and he is half afraid to confess. Tony never seemed to settle down for anyone after he and Pepper broke up and Steve did not want to endanger their friendship. 

 

“Mr. Rogers, may I make a request from you?,” JARVIS cut into Steve’s train of thought stopping at Steve’s floor but not opening the metal doors. Steve looked at the ceiling and nodded sleepily. 

 

“Sir has fallen asleep again and I would leave him but he is next to some dangerous equipment,” JARVIS starts, “would you be willing to take him to bed?” 

 

Steve felt himself blush a bit at the wording knowing full well that was  _ not  _ what JARVIS intended even if a large part of Steve wanted it to be. He just gave a long sigh and wiped his hands over his face before replying with a quick genuine _ yes. _ With that, the elevator began to move again towards the lower floors where Tony’s lab was located. 

 

As the elevator doors slid open, Steve could hear the quiet and familiar hum of technology that always filled the lab’s space. He found it calming and different to any other noise he encounters anywhere else. Nowhere could replicate the lab, not in Steve’s book. He stepped out of the moving metal box and into the open area of the lab. Steve felt something poke at his sides to see U and DUMM-E slide up next to him to great him hello. Steve chuckled and gave each of them a pat wondering where Butterfingers was until his eyes spotted Tony. 

 

The man was asleep on a stool near the back wall away from the workshop elevator. Tony always worked on his more dangerous projects there for the safety of people entering the lab. Still, Steve would appreciate it if his friend would stop doing such tasks when he’s half-asleep. It always worried Steve that JARVIS would call him down because Tony seriously hurt himself because he fell asleep in the middle of such a task. Steve knew how capable Tony was at taking care of himself, much to others’ surprise, but sometimes Tony forgets and ends up doing things when he’s tired thinking he might have a little more time before his brain shuts off without warning. 

 

“Hey buddies,” Steve looks down at the two robots who continue to poke and prod him quietly trying not to make noise to wake up their father, “could you head to your charging stations? You know how much Tony hates coming down to see any of you out of battery and stuck in the middle of the lab. Remember that one time when he thought something was wrong with Butterfingers?...yeah, let's not repeat that again okay?” 

 

The two bots beeped at him quietly as they began to make their way towards the charging stations where Steve notice Butterfingers already there ‘asleep’. Hopefully, the other two would follow in their baby brother’s steps. 

 

After Steve was sure the bots were in their designated spots, he made his way over to Tony’s location. He saw Tony’s head resting near the torch which kind of sent little alarms off in Steve’s head. He was just happy that the man had not fallen asleep with it on. Steve swears the man will be the death of him. 

 

“JARVIS,” Steve whispers, “I am going to take him to bed can you get his room ready?” 

 

Silently JARVIS opened the elevator doors in response and Steve knew that was answer enough. Tony was picky about his room settings when he goes to sleep. He had never gotten over Afghanistan and tended to sleep in hotter rooms with larger comforters no matter how much it bothered him. He couldn’t sleep unless he was uncomfortably warm. Steve hated that he was not there to save Tony from experiencing the cave in the first place. If only they found him sooner. 

 

Once Steve made it behind Tony’s sleeping form, Steve moved a few  _ dangerous  _ items out of his way before coaxing Tony to move into his arms. The genius let out small noises of protest but let Steve shift him into his arms pressing Tony to his chest. Tony was so easy to manipulate when asleep and now having Tony draped over him and snuggling into the side of his neck was a dream come true. Steve loved how much Tony just  _ fit  _ in his arms like the perfect match. 

 

Steve began to move Tony towards the elevator with one last check of the bots in sleeping mode. He had left with them ‘pretending’ to sleep and Tony was not happy about it because the bots had zero self-control without a physical human guardian present.  With that, Steve climbed into the moving metal box as quietly as possible. 

 

Silently, the elevator began to move up towards Tony’s penthouse and Steve just began to hum an old tune that he long ago forgot the words to.  Tony shifted in his arms and mumbled sleepily at him snuggling more into Steve’s neck. A soft giggle escaped Steve as Tony’s fluffy hair brushed his neck. He feared that Tony would wake up but instead he just snuggled closer. 

 

Steve was glad his little fit didn’t wake Tony up. He didn’t know what he would do if Tony woke up and saw himself in Steve’s arms like this. Their friendship was not always smooth sailing and Tony always tended to react badly if he finds himself in a remotely close proximity to anyone. The only exception was Rhodey and Pepper and the ugly part of Steve would rear its head in jealousy. Still, it was not Tony’s fault he felt like this. The man loved too much but he did not feel safe. It is not usually the case where someone could love while not trusting them to feel completely safe around in close proximities. 

 

Steve shook his head a bit brushing those thoughts out of his mind. Tony and he were alright and they were working slowly to get to the point where Tony would be okay with being close to Steve. He was sure of it. Instead  he focused back on humming the tunes his mother sang him. A moment later Steve felt the elevator come to a full stop and watched the elevator doors slide open to a dimly lit hallway that was leading to the sleeping quarters Tony usually uses. 

 

He walked down the hallway wondering which room JARVIS prepared when he saw a small flash of light from the far room down the hall from the elevator. Steve raised an eyebrow at JARVIS’ choice of room before just heading towards the prepared room. The room was hot and a lot smaller than a lot of the other rooms in the tower. Despite popular belief, after Afghanistan, Tony could not really get himself to sleep in a large open area that his old bedrooms occupied without someone else there with him. He tended not to sleep long enough when left alone in a large room. It was why, out of all the Avengers, Steve never caught Tony sleeping on the couch when there was no one else in the room with him.

 

Tony shifted in his arms making Steve freeze in fear that Tony was waking up. He really did not want Tony to panic. So Steve just stood stock still as Tony wiggled a bit in his arms before resting his face back against Steve's neck with more soft grumbles of things Steve would never understand. He learned a few things about Tony when he was asleep, one, he talks science and code, two, he does so in Italian. Steve knew Italian but did not know some of the terminology for him to quite understand what Tony was saying to himself. Still, he hoped it was something Tony wanted to think about instead of him subconsciously trying to continue his workload while asleep.

 

Finally, Steve made it to the door of the prepared room after moving as slow as a sloth to make sure that the last few tracks to putting Tony to bed would end up just fine. As he entered, the room lit up a bit for him to see where he was going but not enough for Tony to register the change in lighting. He spotted the bed quick and moved to pull the large comforter back from its neat spot. It was a struggle just because every time Steve made a move towards the blanket Tony would shift and Steve would begin to lose his grip. So to save him the trouble Steve shifted Tony and his own weight around to lock his friend in place.

 

Steve was able to pull the comforter back and place Tony softly into the bed once he locked Tony in place. Steve looked at Tony's sleeping face for a long moment brushing his soft hair from his face before bending down as if to kiss Tony on the forehead but stopped short. It was wrong to take advantage of an unconscious person like this no matter how much Steve wanted to he couldn't. So he just moved to pull the covers over Tony's sleeping body and tucks him in.

 

After, Steve moved to leave when a hand wrapped around his wrist and tugged him back. Steve could have resisted but he half wanted to know what would happen if he didn’t fight it.  Steve fell back on top of Tony who just kept pulling Steve back in still asleep. He smiled to himself seeing the sleepy genius just wrap his arms around Steve's forcing the super soldier into the bed with him.

 

An internal argument raged in Steve as he settled down on the mattress after pushing Tony over a bit to fit himself on the bed. He should probably resist and leave but he really wanted to know what it felt like to sleep with Tony in his arms. He could not help himself and it seemed that JARVIS did not mind since he just turned the lights off completely drowning Steve and Tony in almost total darkness except for the glow of Tony's arc reactor between them. 

 

Steve looked down as Tony shifted to lay on top of him. He chuckled quietly watching the man he loves just snuggle up to him until they were pressed chest to chest. Seeing Tony's face illuminated by the blue glow of the arc reactor was quite a sight to see. Tony looked like an angel and Steve could feel the deep itch to draw the view in front of him. 

 

He never thought he would love anyone like he loved Peggy but Tony had a way of crawling his way into Steve’s heart like no one else. It consumed his mind even when it was dangerous to do so. The moment Iron Man was in his sight all he could do was watch in hope that Tony would come back to him okay. Though it took him months to admit that he had any feelings for the brunette. He had been in denial in childish fear that somehow this would ruin  _ everything.  _ Instead these feelings and the man himself gave Steve a new purpose. He saw a reason to keep fighting the good fight and actually live in the 21st century. The more he watched Tony sleep the more his mind kept screaming,  _ I love Anthony Edward Stark. _

 

Steve’s hand came up and began to stroke Tony’s hair out of the way and pulled the man closer whispering almost into Tony’s hair, “when he wakes up, I will confess.” 

 

And with that, Steven Grant Rogers fell asleep with the words,  _ I love you Tony,  _ sitting on the tip of his tongue.


	2. Tony

When Tony woke up he instantly knew he was not alone. He shifted into a sitting position so fast his head spun a bit. Tony closed his eyes for a long second to recenter himself before looking down to see Steve laying there asleep. Tony was so close to him. He could feel him still pressing against Steve’s body. He was so shocked to see the man there. Of all the people, the last person Tony expected to see was Captain America. 

 

For the last few months since the Avengers moved into Tony’s tower, Tony had found that he would fall asleep in the workshop and wake up in his bed. It was a common occurrence now and Tony had suspected that JARVIS had a helping hand. Though no matter how many times Tony asked who it was JARVIS would conveniently change the subject and delete any reference to the acts. It frustrated Tony to no end and now that he saw Steve laying next to him it was clear that Steve felt like he had to help Tony. He really did not want to be a burden to his friend. 

 

Suddenly, Steve stirred a bit and moved closer to Tony and it half freaked him out. He probably forced Steve to stay when Steve put him to bed. How many times has Tony done so and pressured Steve into helping him? What a horrible person Tony is. He is such a needy person. Tony loved Steve and he had great control over keeping his feelings in check. And now he probably ruined their friendship by making Steve stay. His friend was sometimes too kind to his friends to say no especially if asked to stay. Now Tony abused that power. 

 

Tony began to shift around and tried to pull away but Steve wound his arm around Tony’s waist holding Tony in place. Tony almost melted. Almost. Instead, he pulled back from Steve’s touch. His friend probably thought he was a woman he brought back home in his sleeping state. Tony should probably leave before Steve woke up. Though it might be too late, Tony mused, since Steve knows that this was one of Tony’s rooms. 

 

“Fuck,” Tony cursed out loud in a whisper. He was able to get out of Steve’s arms without waking up the super soldier which was quite surprising.

 

He rushed to the bathroom and locked himself in trying to hide away from the fact that Steve Rogers was in his bed. Tony always dreamed that Steve would be there when he woke up. It was unrealistic to even think let alone for it to happen. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. He needed to get his mind together, figure out how to explain to Steve that this was just an honest mistake, that they could still go back to the way it was. 

 

Tony has loved Steve for a long while. It took him a month since Steve moved into the tower for him to even realize that he held any sort of romantic feelings for the other man. It had saddened him for a little while and he had locked himself in the lab until Steve showed up and stubbornly demanded to be let in lest he waits outside the doors until they opened. Tony knew very well that Steve meant it. That he would stand there and only move to do some avenging and come back that very spot. They were both stubborn and Tony knew if he really wanted to he could fight it but in the end, Tony really wanted his friend back. Having Steve as a part of his life, even if they were only ever friends, was more important to Tony than hiding away in his workshop and chasing the man away. Tony had tried very hard to move on, go on a couple of dates, tried to set Steve up as well but nothing seems to stick. 

 

So Tony accepted his fate of ‘forever bachelor’ who was in love with his second superhero best friend, the first was always Honeybear, and would live out his days as a single man. Now he almost jeopardized their friendship by his foolish actions while asleep. 

 

He really did not want to lose Steve. Tony really did not want Steve to leave Tony. He would not be able to bear the thought of Steve not talking to him or distancing himself from Tony. Steve would be courteous about it but might start drifting away. 

 

Tony will not let that happen, at least, not without a fight. Tony will show Steve that they can be friends after this. That he was not a screwup. That he can be thoughtful of ‘friend’ boundaries. So with that in mind, Tony gave himself a quick nod and walked out of the bathroom. 

 

Steve was still asleep when Tony walked back in. Tony sat on the bed quietly watching the blond sleep letting himself get one long good look at this moment. He probably will never get another chance of seeing Steve in his bed sleeping like he was the most comfortable man in the world. Tony leaned forward just a bit to get a better view. Steve was beautiful with the sunlight shining onto his body at the perfect angle to make him glow, his eyelashes flutter a bit as Steve takes a breath, and his hair was messy and draping softly onto his face making him look younger. He will get JARVIS to save this image later when he was alone. 

 

Tony watched as Steve began to stir again but this time he seems to be waking up. Tony did not have time to move when Steve’s tired eyes opened up and looked straight at him. Tony moved to leave when Steve smiled his unique soft smile freezing Tony in place. Tony’s brain shut down as he gaped at Steve’s smile trying to figure out why his friend was smiling. 

 

“Well look who woke up before me,” Steve chuckled lifting his hand to stroke Tony’s jaw in a lazy slow motion. Tony flinched back for a moment in shock at the unexpected action causing Steve’s smile to be replaced by a worried, and slightly fearful, frown. Tony looked away from Steve not wanting to look at the man when he realized that it was not some woman but Tony he was talking to. 

 

Tony’s mind began to race trying to come up with good excuses, to fix this, but he drew a blank. He could think of nothing at the most important moment. His mind failed him when he needed him. Got up and walked away, which is what Steve is about to do if he doesn’t  _ say something.  _

 

“To-” “I am so sorry!” Tony cut in as Steve began to speak. His friend, if he could still call him that, looked at him confused. 

 

“Sorry?” Steve muttered to himself blinking at Tony in more confusion, “why are you sorry?” 

 

“Because I am the worst! I forced you to stay with me last night and you are too kind to say no and I just took advantage of you and now you probably want to distance yourself from me but please don’t. I can do better I promise.  _ Please _ don’t leave me. You have come to be one of my closest friends and I need you. Steve,  _ please _ tell me you forgive me. Oh god...I can’t Steve  _ plea- _ ” 

 

“Hey,” Steve cut in softly catching Tony’s chin in his hand and softly pulled Tony’s face to look at him. Steve looked worried and nowhere did Tony see discontent, “there is  _ nothing.  _ And I mean  _ nothing _ you have to be sorry for do you understand?” 

 

“But,” Tony tried but Steve looked at him with his wide puppy eyes before Tony reluctantly nodded. This was probably the part where Steve tells him that they should probably spend some time apart. 

 

“No buts, Tony. I need you to know that everything that happened was more than okay with me. I...I have something I want to tell you,” Steve said looking at Tony with hopeful eyes. 

 

Here it comes, Tony mused, here comes Steve’s goodbye. Tony mentally prepared himself and forced himself to look into Steve’s eyes as he bid hi- 

 

“I love you,” Steve confessed making all thoughts in Tony’s mind come to a complete halt. He was once again struck by surprise at the  _ unexpected and quite surprising love confession.  _

 

“What the fuck?” Tony answered shocking Steve. He watched Steve’s face contort in hurt and sadness as he gathered himself to leave but Tony will not let him leave without explanation. 

 

The man he loved, the man he adored was about to walk out that door and if he did not stop him then he could lose Steve forever. So he pulled from the famous Stark courage and pushed himself forward until he wrapped his arms around Steve’s midsection. The man stopped walking letting Tony hold him in place. 

Steve turned to look at Tony like he was about to cry and wanted to be anywhere but here but  _ here  _ is where he belonged. Tony could not believe he allowed himself to be so blind. He should have fought for Steve, given him a chance. But now he knew. Now he would not make the same mistake twice. 

 

“I am sorry,” Tony apologized, “I didn’t mean...fuck it, Steven Grant Rogers I have been in love with you almost as soon as you moved into the tower. It scared me at first because I had just recently broken up with Pepper and was not really ready for these feelings but I have wanted you so badly and I thought I would never get anything more than friendship from you, which was fine, I need you to know that. You are  _ never  _ obliged to return my feelings or do anything you don’t want. I just...in the name of Tesla just fucking kiss me already!” 

 

And Steve did. Their lips crashed together and it was as perfect and as messy as Tony imagined their first kiss to be. 

 

In that moment, Tony knew that he loved Steve and that Steve loved him and that was all that mattered in the end. Even if it took them a long time of obliviousness and sorrow to get there, Tony was glad of it all. 

 

“I love you,” they both whispered to each other as they pulled away to catch their breaths and look into each other’s eyes. 

 

They stood there for a long time smiling like idiots with the words,  _ I love you  _ on the tip of their tongues but this time neither was afraid to say it.


End file.
